NC's outer banks dedicate new span

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8/19/2002

The new
5.2-mile Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge connecting the mainland
to Roanoke Island was dedicated on Friday with music and a "bridge
walk" led by an antique car- carrying actor, Andy Griffith
and North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley.

Motorists,
bicyclists, walkers and joggers celebrating the long awaited evacuation
route, made the first crossing of the longest bridge in the state,
according to the Outer Banks Sentinel.

Sen. Marc
Basnight (D-Manteo), Gov. Easley, Lyndo Tippett, state transportation
secretary, and Rep. William T. Culpepper (D-Edenton) were also
on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The chairman
of the Dare County Board of Commissioners reportedly said the
bridge would be an asset to neighboring Hyde and Tyrrell counties,
and would "certainly be welcomed in times of emergency if
we need to evacuate."

The new
$91 million structure over the Croatan Sound is expected to provide
relief from bottlenecks. It's part of a bypass around the
county seat, Manteo, where U.S. 64 often clogs with bumper-to-bumper
traffic.